Love this game. Only one problem. It downloaded and installed just fine, but after I played it for awhile and got to the ninth level, then exited out, expecting the game to auto-save. I fired it up later, but it had not saved my name, or my progress. I started again with a new name, played for awhile and closed it out. When I wenty to play again ... same problem. I have tried this five times with the same results each time. I emailed the company that produces the game, and so-far have had no reply. This is the first time that I have ever had problem with a game from the GGOTD site. So much for"never-annoying." Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanx


.........................Moderator comment.........................

Tuesday. I'll check my copy out sometime this week. (I may need reminding as my memory is appalling). I'll feed back to you via this comment.

It would be nice if the game had an option to save and close the game you have been playing instead of just closing down the game and nothing being saved and having to start all over again. Otherwise not bad.

Some quick reactions. Yes the music is a little too "magical" and a little too busy. I thought it wasn't inapropriate, but could see how it could start to annoy during a long session. I tried the "classic" tiles and could see the problem. Too small, taking a while to get used to. Hard to differentiate between some. Because of that, more of a "memory" game than even usual. I tried to switch to the alchemy tiles for the 2nd level and no provision to do that. Not acceptable. People switch tiles - just like they switch deck designs in solitaire - to add some variety. Really no reason it isn't built in. Decent game. Keeper. Seen worse. Opinions that it's more of a children's game with the overall atmosphere seem appropriate.

just been over to forums but nothing there to help me, should have waited to post my comment. Have downloaded this game 5 times, four would not finish, have finally got a finished file but will not let me unpack the files when I click on it, less than 2 hrs to go... can anyone help. I have been using Getright up to this morning with no problems, this is the first time this has happened

Have this from last time given away! Don't like backround color
of game pieces or symbolds! Game play is decent, but not likeky to play very often! Prefer Mahjong games that give lots of options in tiles! Do like carton backround!

It would have been so nice if only the option to play the game relaxed & untimed were included. I HATE playing games under the stress and worry and pressure of a timer. With the pressure and stress and worry of a timer, a game ceases to be fun or relaxing and turns into a source of anxiety, pain, and anger.

............................Moderator comment.......................

Thank you for your feedback Reality check. I agree with you about having a relaxed mode.

Glad to see this one back again, lost it when my laptop died and neglected to save it to my external hard drive. Will make sure I save it there this time, missed playing it when I had a bit of time to kill. Good one GGOTD

This is a cute majong game. I know I'll play it again. Weird happenings with downloads for me but it must be my set-up. When I downloaded yesterday and today, the zipfiles were initially empty. I spent quite a bit of time yesterday trying to figure it out but when I tried the game one last time after midnight I could still play it. So, when I downloaded this one and it was empty again I just went and did something else. When I came back the zip file had what I needed. I really like the game yesterday. Pretty graphics and solving a mystery. Thanks

I wonder if anyone else is experiencing the same problem as me. This is the 2nd time I've tried to install one of these games since they starting adding the .gcd file, and I disabled all my security, I even tried it to D/L it with my security, and it keeps telling me I have a corrupted file. I've had that problem since they started adding that extra file in there. If anyone has an idea, I would like to know, I would like to have today's game.


.........................Moderator comment........................

Check out my FAQ's over in the game discussion forums. I've posted a link to it in my review above. Try using a different file archiver to unpack the giveaway zip file.

Hee hee, Stephen!

But it is with deep shame that I realise it's John "Boggy" Marsh who has the two sheds, and not Mr. Dedicoat.

D'OH!

(And that has probably TOTALLY baffled any non-UK readers …)


......................Moderator comment.............................

:) Yes, Mr Dedicoat was Terry's sidekick and an announcer. :) But I was announcing (I hate creosote) so thought the comment appropriate, lol. (I've never had two sheds unless you count a garden shed and Wendy house as two sheds, lol).

I have just played about a half hour of this game, and I have to say that I really like it! The cartoon-like layout is fun, the sounds and music are good (I usually mute music cause it's not what I like, but I like the one in this game). I have many, many mahjongg games, and I have to say this is one of the more fun ones I've played.

I highly recommend it!

Ooh! Get YOU and your two sheds! Just like Alan Dedicoat, eh?

And for those interested, the Nine Dragons game (what Steven and I would call real Mah Jong!) costs ~£15, though a demo. version is available.


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lol

I hate creosote!

Downloaded fine with Win 7 -- I like HOGS and Mahjong. Thank you for the game. I appreciate that it is ad-free.

I'm prety sure I had this game from a previous GGOTD offer as I recognise the screenshots. I completed the game and removed it from my PC, but it is one of the more interesting versions of Mah Jong that I've played. I would recommend it.



................................Moderator comment.............................

Hi Lynn, it was originally given away back in Jan 2010 so you probably did have it on your computer previously. I also remember the screenshots, it only seems like yesterday; scary how time flies.....

I had this the last time it was given away. I loved it but I had to reformat and lost the game. Great game.

Take one part boring. Add two parts cartoonish. Throw in a smidgen of too easy. Mix two globs of lies for "never-ending and never-annoying." Sprinkle generously with waste of time. What have you made? Yes! This game!




................................Moderator comment.............................

Thank you for your feedback Swampy; still over 60% of community members have found this okay. (I know the thumbs up/thumbs down isn't a quantatative measure, but it does indicate some impressions. Personally I wouldn't bother with it now as I have loads of solitaire mahjong games, but if my children were a lot younger I'd have kept it for them.

Once again Stephen, thanks for the great review! I'll pass on this game (I'm not really a huge Mahjong fan, and this one just doesn't look all that great).
BTW, you mentioned some other places to find deals right now, you might also want to check out Amazon. Right now they have about 850 downloadable PC games on sale. This includes a huge variety of different types of games, from casual titles (like Word Wonders for only $2.99), all the way to top-of-the line PC games like Mass Effect 3 (only $5.99). From sports games (like EA Sports Pack (Madden 08 and an NHL game - for only 4.99) to fantasy games like Alice: Madness Returns (also only $4.99). I believe the sale still has 3 or 4 more days in it. It's a nice way to add some good games to your collection.




................................Moderator comment.............................

Thanks Mark, I'll check Amazon.

Generally they tend to restrict a lot of their game deals to the US and Canada only, so I don't include them. Still, no harm in checking them out. I may be wrong about the restriction now as i stopped bothering to check some time ago. (Last time I tried to purchase a deal from Amazon was Ghost busters, went through the process until they realized I was UK based.)

Looks like a good game. We like mahjong so I am going to give it a try. Tell you more later.

I have downloaded this twice with the same error : Failed to launch application. IT WILL NOT INSTALL !!!! I tried ALL of the AVG exclusions but it didn't work.

Please send me a file that works?

Thank you.




................................Moderator comment.............................

Hi James, everyone gets the same file. As you are the only community member who seems to be having this problem, it may be a problem from your side. Maybe the way you have your computer set up. For exanple if you are using firefox and have I.E. set to offline you won't be able to register the program. You have to change I.E. to online working. Check out the FAQ's section over in the game discussion forums (not the one in the main forums. I've linked to it in my review above. go to the problem section for the link.

If I.E. is online try turning off AVG completely until the game is installed. some AV programs take exception to the .gcd file in the game giveaway folder (It's a security file that protects the game from hackers, but can be seen as athreat itself, but it is harmless).

Had this game on a previous giveaway and lost due to change to a new PC. Now I get it back! It's a decent mahjong game.

.............................Moderator Comment...............................


I'm away for most of the rest of today. Picked my daughter up from her Girl guides weekend earlier (just arrived back). She throughly enjoyed the experience, now its off to a family birthday party, then back to the new house for more work. I'll continue to moderate this evening.

No comments so far three hours into the giveaway. mustn't be going down well, though the thumbs up is a positive 67% at the moment (same as when it was previously given away).

Have a pleasant and restful Sunday folks. :)

There will be no full review from me today. I have to go pick up my daughter from a Girl Guides weekend literally as soon as the gamegiveaway starts this morning, then its off to a family birthday lunch and afternoon party before spending more time at the new house painting one of two garden sheds with smelly wood preserver..

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Alchemy Mahjong:

Installation:

Alchemy Mahjong downloads to an 24 MB zip file that unpacks to a read me and a wrapped setup file (the orange colored file with the key symbol), plus there's a setup file with security (setup.gcd) that's protected from being hacked (because the previous giveaway system was easily cracked). This file may case some security software to alert the user to a possible malware attack, but it will be a false positive.

The game giveaway team check all game giveaways for malware using several well known anti -malware suites. There has never been a game giveaway infected with malware since the project started back in Dec 2006. (The owners know that allowing such things would compromise their buisness, so they make sure all software given away via the giveaway and gamegiveaway sites are throughly checked for all types of malware before allowing community members to download any files.

Some community members have been having problems installing games since the security software was added. It's been found that turning off your security temporarily or configuring it to accept the setup.cgd file usually sorts the problem out.

To register and install the game click on the orange colored icon. The installed game is 22.9 MB in size and installs to the following path by default:




The path can be changed to suit whatever your wishes are. Once the game is installed you can delete the giveaway setup files. The game doesn't install shortcuts to the desktop and start menu programs list and there is no uninstaller. To delete the program you simply delete the installed folder. (Basically the game is free standing)..

Alchemy Mahjong works on both my Win 7 & Win 8 computers.
I don't have a Vista or XP installation set up at the moment (and won't for several months until we move house later this year).

Introduction:

Alchemy Mahjong was given away once previously back in Jan 2010 (31st) where it received a positive 67% out of 425 votes with 88 comments which can be read HERE

Alchemy Mahjong is a never-ending and never-annoying journey of brain-teasing fun for puzzle-lovers of all ages! Go through numerous unique levels, eliminating pairs of identical magic tiles and completing fairy missions.

Reference: http://www.gambana.com/downloads/puzzle_and_word/alchemy_mahjong.html accessed 31st Jan 2010




The Game:

Everyone knows what a solitaire game of Mahjong entails. Today's giveaway is little different in basic game play from most other solitaire games. With Alchemy Mahjong you're getting a basic Mahjong game with cartoon like graphics. It does its job. Nothing special, but worth downloading if you like Solitaire Mahjong; (personally I prefer the four player variety). I purchased one called Hong Kong Mahjong which allows me to play with three computer players or it can be played with four humans. i've got a proper Mahjong set, which I'd prefer to play, but no one seems to want to play traditional games anymore. :( I used to play Mahjong in preference to chess when I was a youth. (I've posted a link to a free four player version in the more games section below)


Overall from the time I played the demo I'd say an average Mahjong game. The children may like this version because of the cartoon like graphics. I did find the tile sets a little disorientating but that could be because it was 4am in the morning when I checked the game out (I fell asleep at the keyboard), but you could argue that this just adds to the difficulty. Theres a shuffle facility that recharges over time and you can undo previous moves if you wish. The game is timed, which may take away the pleasure of playing for some. YToiu can go freom full screen to windowed by pressing Esc.

There's 50 levels available with 6 missions to complete. For Each mission you have to collect pieces of an object, which are awarded whenever you complete a level.

Music:

There's no way of changing the in game music. You can turn off the music via the options menu, then play some of your own music via your media player.

Video & Images:

You can see several videos via the following you tube Video. HERE, HERE and HERE


You can also see several images from the game via a slideshow HERE.

System Requirements:


OS: Windows 9x/2k/Me/XP/Vista
CPU: 1600+ MHz
RAM: 512+ MB
Free hard drive space: 100 MB
SVGA Video Card


Conclusion:

Ideal starter for the children, but its still a playable game for adults as well.


Scoring:

Game play - 6
Graphics - 6
Replayability - 8
Originality - 6
Sound - 6

Total score 6.2 out of 10


Suggestions:

Add more tile styles and include the four player variety. :)

Problems:


If you have any problems installing or getting to work today's game please go HERE for help. I've posted all of the common problems and solutions in a FAQ thread, which you can find in the sticky section of the forums by following the above link.

If you are posting late in the day I would also suggest posting in the main giveaway forums, in the game discussion section because I cannot moderate 24hrs a day over the weekend. If you've installed the game but it won’t work for some reason, it should still be registered, so someone may be able to help at another time. Unfortunately if your problem is actually installing it then once the giveaway period is over there’s nothing that can be done until the game is given away again (though that isn't guaranteed). Sometimes you can still register the game after the giveaway has ended so long as you managed to start the download before the giveaway ends. I've tested this and sometimes the grace period lasts for up to 2 hours, but more often than not 1 hour is the norm.




It’s always worth checking out the free games sites as sometimes the games we get here are also available for free from them. MyPlayCity (MPC) has the most with over 800 games to choose from. Unfortunately today's game is'nt available from any of the free game sites,

If you do download any other games from MPC or the other free game sites (e.g. Jenkatt Games, Gametop or FreeGamePick) 'do' watch out for toolbars etc. Make sure you uncheck the checkboxes during installation .

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There are hundreds of Mahjong games available for free as well as many commercial versions. Today's game giveaway is the solitaire variety of Mahjong.



Alternatives:

I highly recommend a 4 player traditional game of Mahjong called HongKong Mahjong which has a decent AI for a challenging game against three computer opponents. You can find it< a href="http://www.ninedragons.com/" rel="nofollow">HERE





Or you can find quite a few free solitaire mahjong games over in the forums in the free games synopsis by G@rgoyle HERE or the foour player version from Caimans HERE (Watch out for toolbars etc, Caimans have started to use these as a way of paying for the web site. Caimans is a small group of volunteers carrying on the work of Rudy Caiman who founded the site some years ago who passed away Feb 2011)






Games, Games, and yet more Games plus Download, Installation & Game play Problems:



If you're looking for something other than today's game check the didimatic site via THIS link for some brilliant deals.

Steams weekend deals include 50% off CounterStike Global Offensive, plus you can play it for free until tomorrow 1pm Pacific time. There's also 66% off Borderlands 2 (none of the dlc is included in the sale - over £60/$90 worth, but if you purchase the season pass, most of the dlc is included) There's 75% off the original Borderlands with all dlc included (only £4.99/approx $7.50), 50% off the Minecraft like game Ace of Spades, 50% off Hitman: Absolution (doesn't include the dlc), 75% off Postal 2 complete, 50% off Guns of Icarus Online, 75% off the Unwritten Tales Collection, 75% off all Renaissance bundles (dlc for the free to play game), 75% off the Bit.Trip Collectiion 2012, 75% off Robin Hood: The Legend of sherwood, 50% off Postal, 75% off Hydrophobia Prophecy, 60% off din's curse, 50% off Critical Mass, and 50% off Retro city Rampage. You'll find almost 60 games on sale at the moment on Steam with discounts from 10% to 75%. You'll find all the deals via the Specials tab on Steams front page HERE. The 24hr deal is 75% off Deus Ex: Human Revolution plus all dlc..


On sale over at at GreenManGaming there's also loads of decent deals for example most of the Telltale games collection e.g. The Walking Dead (a superb point and click adventure game), Tales of Monkey Island, Poker Night at the Inventory 1 & 2, All the Sam & Max seasons, Back to the Future, Law & Order: Legacies, Puzzle Agent 1 & 2, plus the multiplayer game Chivalry: Medieval Warfare, Worms Reloaded GOTY, Borderlands 2, Burnout Paradice: The Ultimate box, and a couple of the command & Conquer games as well as others. alCheck all GMG deals HERE. There's a 20% off voucher that can be used with some of the GMG digital games.



You'll find many more game deals from Gamersgate, Gamestop, and GOG; all of which you can find via the Didimatic site, which I've linked to above.

To be honest there are too many game deals around too list them all. Just visit the sites I recommend above and I'm sure you'll find something that suits you for a very decent price.


You can get a free arcade game via Alawar's game box, just click the free game tab. It changes approximately every month If that's not enough, check out the Game Discussion forums HERE for details of other games either free or on deals such as the Indie Game bundles or check out the four day sales at IndieGameStand.

The latest IndieGameStand game is the towewr Defence game Unstoppable Gorg and, if you beat the avcerage you'll get another game called Stellar Impact. Both games come with Steam and Desura keys plus DRM free copies. To see more details about Unstoppable gorg with images and a description of the game click HERE

There's also four indie bundles over at Indiebundle.org, The Krazy Kinetic Bundle (Stardrone, Rhythm Destruction, Plazma Being, plus extra Really Big Sky), the Hellish Dungeons bundle (99 Levels to Hell, Guy vs. WNL, Rogue’s Tale, plus two extra's Claustrophobia & Dark Gates) , the Alpha Fundle bundle ends this weekend (Gravi, Super Tower Rush, Monsters!, Samphi, Twisty’s Asylum Escapades) and the Ultimate Bug Out bundle bundle (The Ballads of Reemus, Band of Bugs + DLC, Along Came A Spider, plus the extra Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon + DLC). Each bundle has three games and costs $5 each for the basic bundle plus a few dollars more for extras# games. Check the Indie bundles HERE



You'll also find some Indie bundles available such as the NYOP Adventure Gamer Bundle, The Indie Gala Tropico bundle, the Indie Gala Mobile 3 bundle, Bundle Stars 7, and finally the Humble Double Fine bundle (Oh...! and there's a free bundle). All bundles are excellent value for money apart from the free one which is brilliant value for free :). For most of these bundles you need not pay more than $5 for several games that would usually cost you a lot more. You'll find links to all of these bundles in the Game discussion forums HERE





A Request for help:

Developers rely on good feedback to improve their games. If you download this game please take some time once you’ve played it a while to leave some constructive feedback either positive or negative. The more constructive feedback we get, the more likely developers are going to give more games away. The giveaway site already has a very good standing with the search engines. Developers want their products out there on the WWW, this site has the potential to do that. The game giveaway project gives away on average between 9 to 17 thousand downloads for each game depending upon what genre and how obscure the game is. That’s a lot of homes these games are being downloaded into and a lot of 'potential' cash that’s being lost by the developers. If we get better games because of better feedback, the community are likely to continue to benefit from the generosity of the developers. Satisfied community members are then more likely to visit the home sites of those developers and purchase games that they may not have bothered with before they discovered the developer via the game giveaway site, thus giving the developers more incentives to give away even more decent games.

Please leave some feedback once you've checked the game out. It can be positive or negative, but please explain what your reasons were for the feedback you post. You could also leave suggestions for improving the game, for example, this game could do with more block types for the levels editor, add more power-ups, describing the ones you think would be suitable, add some mini games (which seem all the rage in some arcade games now) or enable the user to be able to change the in game music easily.

Thank you in advance to all those who take the time to post a constructive comment.

Regards

Whiterabbit aka Stephen

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